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I don't know if preservatives would have had any affect on carbonation. You mentioned higher ABV in the failed bottles, how high? Doubt that would prevent carbonation in this case but if high enough it might have slowed progress. Two weeks is not always enough. (Usually not sufficient...

Leaky flip tops?

You could just fill the bottles and prime each individually. Either by adding the appropriate amount of sugar to each or preparing a priming solution calculated for the total amount of remaining beer and adding the appropriate amount to each bottle. Yes you can use flip top growlers. If the...

Sure. It might not be worth pursuing by legal enforcement but then the same can be said about video/audio piracy. Generally not worth prosecuting the occasional pirating of a show or movie by an individual but we often here about someone accruing huge fines for downloading a few songs or movies...

I think we are in agreement so I don't understand the post except that you are a licensed fermenter and distillation is another process. Distillation is not permitted including personal use. Freezing and separating the water is also considered distillation was what I was alluding to. Many think...

Not sure how you intended to use the 2nd 5 gallon cooler.... Split the grain and do some sort of dual mash? One to hold sparge water? Yes, you can do 5 gallon batches as long as the recipe does not require more grain and water than the cooler can hold. Most will be fine. I did not buy a kit...

Interesting. One could argue this either way dependent on your reading. Another interesting note is that while apparently concerned about "following the rules", no mention by others that "freeze condensing" hasn't been mentioned as "distillation" in Federal interpretation of laws regulating the...

I used a seven gallon aluminum turkey kettle to make 5 gallon+ full boils for years. Just have to be watchful as the boil approaches to avoid boil over. Easy enough if you are paying attention. You could use the 5 gallon ss pot for heating sparge water or smaller batches.

The neck and surface stuff looks like krausen and yeast from the fermentation that carbonated the beer. Perhaps there was more fermentation time needed before bottling or you just had a rather active bottle carbonation. The lower ring is more questionable. Tendrils of something growing never...

If the "twang" is yeast, many cold crash just prior to bottling. This would drop out more of the yeast from suspension.

It is called a 5 gallon cooler after all

5 gallon of blueberry sour, 5 gallon California common and 2.5 smoked brown ale. Diversification

Check for a frozen line. Depending on your setup, the beverage line may have a frozen section that is sometimes difficult to detect. This has been my problem every time it has occurred.

Sure. For some people from some suppliers. I don't buy online since I have a convenient LHBS and don't usually plan ahead enough to wait for shipping. How much is shipping? My LHBS supposedly has an up charge of a few cents per lb if they mill it but no charge of you do it in their store...

It ain't cheap.... But it can be. You need a decent size pot. 5 gallon would be acceptable. They can be found cheap if you look around, don't buy new, if you do 5 gallon batches look for a used turkey fryer set up. They usually come with a 7 gallon pot. $50 a 5 gallon batch for materials is NOT...

United States of America

No, perfectly normal

Did you forget to install the airlock? Or perhaps forget to fill the airlock with a liquid solution such as water?

Ehhh, you have beer Not very likely that fermentation did not occur. It's virtually fool proof especially with 2 packs of yeast added at different times. More likely is that the lid did not seal. Krausen is sometimes thin and can disappear quickly. Bubbles in the air lock are reassuring but not...

This doesn't sound much different from what many do with the same size constraints. Some (and I) have mashed a 5+ gallon (as much as you can manage with your equipment) batch using grain sufficient for a 10 gallon batch then topped up with sufficient water post boil in the fermenter(s). I have...